Watch Tiny Crab Spiders Take Flight With 10-Foot Silk Parachutes
If you’re arachnophobic, I hate to tell you this, but spiders can fly.
A Rare Behind the Scenes Look at Disney World's Most Advanced Audio-Animatronic Character
A lot of us are still scratching our heads over Disney’s decision to spend millions of dollars building Pandora—The World of Avatar in its Animal Kingdom park, especially with Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening so soon. But at least the themed area, which is celebrating its one year anniversary, led to the creation of…
Scientists Didn't Invent a Star Trek 'Cloaking Device,' But What They Did Is Still Neat
Several news outlets have claimed that scientists have created a “cloaking device” like those seen on Star Trek, but that’s not quite what happened. The cloaking devices on Star Trek bend light to render an object invisible, and the new device merely deflects sound. The technology also isn’t so new, as others are…
Here's How Scientists Bent Diamonds
A team of physicists has figured out how to bend diamonds, according to a new paper. Okay, we’re talking about nano-scale diamond needles here. But it’s an impressive feat, because while diamonds are known for their hardness, these rocks will break if they are bent even a tiny bit.
For $367,500, This Clockwork Machine Will Save You the Hassle of Writing Your Own Name
Are you a billionaire suffering from wrist cramps brought on by the endless stacks of checks you need to endorse? A two-dollar rubber stamp is one solution, but more befitting of your fiduciary status could be Jaquet Droz’s Signing Machine, which uses sophisticated clockwork mechanisms to flawlessly recreate your…
Please Enjoy This Compilation of NASA Test Dummies Having Their Day Ruined
NASA test dummies go through a lot so humans don’t have to. They get used for brutal impact tests, and sometimes said tests don’t go so well... for the dummies, not necessarily the scientists.
Operators of VerrĂĽckt, World's Largest Water Slide, Charged in 2016 Death of 10-Year-Old Rider
A grand jury in Wyandotte County, Kansas has returned an indictment against waterpark and resort operator Schlitterbahn and one of its managers, charging them with “involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, and reckless endangerment of a child” over the 2016 death-by-decapitation of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab on the…
Graphene Scientists Invent World's Most Hardcore Hair Dye
Researchers at Northwestern University think they’ve stumbled upon an unexpected new use for the so-called supermaterial graphene: an easy-to-apply, safer, and sturdier black hair dye that could give other permanent dyes a run for their money. The new dye even made hair immune to frizz and static electricity.
Report: Engineer Told Officials Not to Worry About Crack in Miami Bridge Just Hours Before Collapse
The death toll from the collapse of a pedestrian bridge over a road at Miami’s Florida International University on March 15th has risen to at least six, with the university admitting on Saturday that one of the project engineers had waved off concerns over a crack just hours before.
50 Engineers Spent Six Months Designing a Fidget Spinner That Set a New World Record
Just when you thought that the fidget spinner fad had gone the way of the dodo bird, hoverboards, and 3D TVs, a Japanese company, MinebeaMitsumi Inc., known for manufacturing electronic components, and Mitsubishi, used 50 engineers to design and build a near-flawless fidget spinner over a six-month period that…
Picture of Single Trapped Atom Wins UK Science Photography Prize
Zoom in close on the center of the picture above, and you can spot something you perhaps never thought you’d be able to see: a single atom. Here is a close-up if, you’re having trouble:
Why the Drinking Bird Toy Is Actually a Brilliant Piece of Thermodynamic Engineering
At some point in your life you’ve almost certainly marveled at the classic drinking bird toy, and probably lost a few brain cells trying to figure out how it works. Don’t be ashamed if you never successfully unravelled the science, though, as engineerguy Bill Hammack explains, even Einstein apparently couldn’t crack it
Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS Robot Is Now a Backflipping Cyborg Supersoldier
10 minutes ago, I was cautiously optimistic that one day we’d live and work side-by-side with robots in perfect harmony. Then Boston Dynamics posted a video of its ATLAS humanoid robot performing incredible jumps and backflips, and now I’m ready to go find a cave somewhere and hide.
These Two Scientists Say the Time Has Come to Redefine 'Glass'
“Glass is an amorphous solid that flows like a liquid,” you’d probably say if you were asked to define the stuff. Is that true, though? What if I told you, for example, that the old myth, that old windows are thicker at the bottom because the glass has flowed a little bit, was false? Glass is an incredibly complex…
Robots Made From DNA Could One Day Transport Medicine Inside Your Body
In the classic 1966 American science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, a submarine crew was miniaturized and injected into a body to fix a blood clot in the brain. That’s obviously not how future medical science is going to work, but the notion of creating microscopic machines to perform complex tasks is certainly on…
Brilliant Staircase Design Stores Extra Energy to Make It Easier to Climb Later
Do you deliberately avoid visiting friends who live in multi-story buildings without an elevator? No one would fault you—having to climb even just a single flight of stairs is like being forced to workout against your will. But thanks to engineers at Georgia Tech and Emory University, stairs might one day do all the…
Elevators of the Future Will Move Sideways Without a Single Cable
One of the biggest engineering challenges of building a towering skyscraper isn’t keeping the structure from falling over, it’s moving all the people around inside of it. To improve efficiency, and facilitate the construction of even taller buildings, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp has completely redesigned elevators so that…
Guy Builds a Self-Powered Driving Potato That Turns Out to Be a Better Pet Than a Cat
We’ve all seen the grade school science experiment where sticking a couple of electrodes into a potato produces enough current to power a small light bulb. But engineer Marek Baczynski took that experiment several steps further, building what could be the world’s first autonomous potato—and the ultimate housepet.
An Imaginative Aerospace Engineer Turned This Classic Lego Space Shuttle Into a Flying Toy
As a follow-up to turning the classic Lego Solo Trainer set into a fully-functional RC plane, aerospace engineer Adam Woodworth is back with an even more impressive build: he somehow made this tiny 27-year-old Lego Space Shuttle actually fly.
Rock-Balancing Robots Could Build Our Future Habitats On Mars
Like maintaining a zen garden, or pruning a bonsai tree, some people stack and balance rocks as a way to relax. But robots don’t really experience emotional stress, so why bother teaching a bot to balance rocks? One day, this robot’s skills could prove invaluable when it comes to building structures on distant worlds…